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Review | Not Quite Dead Yet movie review: in manic Japanese comedy, Suzu Hirose plays an eccentric scientist’s daughter

  • Suzu Hirose has a strained relationship with her eccentric scientist father, played by Shinichi Tsutsumi – and that’s before he pretends to die
  • A list of well known Japanese actors in supporting roles, including Lily Franky and Satoshi Tsumabuki, help make this nonsensical comedy an entertaining ride

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(Clockwise from left) Suzu Hirose, Ryo Yoshizawa and Shinichi Tsutsumi in a still from Not Quite Dead Yet (category IIA, Japanese), directed by Shinji Hamasaki.

2.5/5 stars

Not Quite Dead Yet is an over-the-top Japanese comedy centred around the strained relationship between a single father and his daughter as they grapple with shenanigans in the afterlife and a rock concert that doubles as a funeral. Yes, it’s really as manic and odd as it sounds.

The film relies on nonsensical slapstick often during its 93-minute runtime. Nevertheless, the first feature film from television ad director Shinji Hamasaki is still an entertaining (if inconsequential) ride, thanks to fun turns by lead actress Suzu Hirose ( The Third Murder , Last Letter ) and a star-studded list of actors in supporting roles and cameos.

Hirose plays Nanase Nobata, a 21-year-old university student who has been told all her life by her eccentric medical scientist father, Kei (Shinichi Tsutsumi), that she would one day take over his pharmaceutical company.

She resists this notion, partly because of her resentment towards her father for choosing work over spending time with her terminally ill mother years prior, but also because flashbacks reveal Nanase has never enjoyed science. She spends her downtime fronting a death metal band – and their lead song is one in which she wishes death on her father.

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